Changes
by Audrey Brackett
Summary: Beverly Howard meets Jack Crusher. What does Jean-Luc Picard think? (P/C)


AUTHOR: Jennifer Rae Crusher (Kate's Trekfic pen name)  
EMAIL: Enigma806@aol.com  
TITLE: Changes  
SUMMARY: How did Beverly meet Jack? And what did Jean-Luc Picard think?  
RATING: PG, PG-13 if you know French G  
CATEGORY: P/C, vignette  
FEEDBACK: Please don't make me beg.  
ARCHIVE: Please! Send me the link.  
SPOILERS: "Attatched", "Insurrection"  
DISCLAIMER: All hail Paramount. They own these folks, not me. I can only dream.  
NOTES: This idea has been in my head forever! I finally had to write it down.  
  
----------------------  
"Changes"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Johnny!"  
  
Inwardly, Jean-Luc Picard cringed. It wasn't the nickname--Jack and Walker had taken to calling him that a long time ago. Rather, it was the air of mischief that Walker Keel had in his voice.  
  
"What?"  
  
Walker sat down at the bar next to Jean-Luc, and cast a glance at Jack Crusher, who was nearby--talking to some blonde who was not exactly lacking in the proportional department. "Jack needs a girl."  
  
Jean-Luc raised an eyebrow. "Seems to me he's found one."  
  
"No, no," Walker sighed, "not *her*. He'll talk to her another 5 minutes and be done with it. He needs a girl. As in girlfriend. As in long-term."  
  
"And what leads you to this astute judgement?" Jean-Luc asked, sipping his drink. He let just an hint of aristocracy creep into his tone.  
  
"He doesn't have one." Walker's answer was short, simple, and to the point.  
  
At this, Jean-Luc laughed. "And neither do we! Why is getting Jack a girlfriend suddenly your all-consuming passion?"  
  
"Because when he gets one, and he's had her for a little while, she can introduce us to her friends."  
  
"I see." Now he understood. "No good deed without ulterior motives, right, Walker?"  
  
"You bet your ass."  
  
"I'd rather not. If you'll recall, he have tried this before. Repeatedly. The relationship lasted 2 weeks, if that."  
  
"I don't know," Walker speculated. "Jeanine had him for about a month."  
  
"Exception to the rule."  
  
Walker gave his friend an imploring look. "Please, Jean-Luc?" Oh, great. When Walker called him that, he was either deathly serious or sucking up big-time. "Three hundredth time's a charm."  
  
"All right." Picard couldn't help but wonder how many more times he was going to get talked into this. Always, it was the same routine. He combed the bar, found a girl who looked like Jack's type, handed her off to Walker, Walker made the introductions. Jack was usually less than thrilled at the attempts of his two best friends. But he usually went out with her anyway at least once. Twice, if she was really something. Then they broke it off. Same thing, every time. What made Walker think tonight was going to be any different?  
  
"Let's do it different this time," Walker added, leaning in. "Forget combing the bar. I've looked, the selection tonight isn't really as good. Good for Jack, anyhow. Just get...the next woman who walks through that door alone."  
  
Jean-Luc snapped off a mock salute. "Will do."  
  
Walker girnned, and wandered off. Jean-Luc took another sip of his drink and watched the door. It opened, and one of the most beautiful women Jean-Luc Picard had ever scene strolled in.   
  
Unfortunately, someone else had realized her beauty too--she had a man with her.   
  
The next girl in looked young and timid. This bar was really more of a lounge--but with the recent introduction of synthehol, a "drinking age" hadn't really been needed anyway. There was no telling how old she might have been. But she was old enough for Jack anyhow.   
  
As he walked over to the table she'd sat down at, he wondered why she looked so timid. Was it a front? Was it her first time here?  
  
"Mind if I sit down?" he asked.  
  
She turned to look at him, her eyes blazing with a defiant wariness. "And I suppose you're going to ask what a girl like me is doing in a place like this."  
  
The thought had occured to him, but there was no way he would have resorted to the galaxy's most over-used pickup line.  
  
"Actually, I just thought you looked like you could use a friend."  
  
"I've got a few, thanks. I swear, you Starfleet men are all alike."  
  
"Not all of us." Jean-Luc offered her a warm smile. "I'm not trying to pick you up. I want to introduce you to a friend of mine, is all."  
  
"What, I'm not your type?"  
  
Jean-Luc shrugged. "I've always been partial to brunettes," he joked. When he got a smile out of her, he held out his hand. "Jean-Luc Picard. Pleased to meet you."  
  
She raised an eyebrow in interest. "Oh, French? Hmm...my friend Celeste would have a field day with you. Okay, okay. I'll meet your friend. If he's anywhere near as charming as you are, it won't be a total loss. But I'm not promising anything."  
  
Jean-Luc grinned. She was a fiesty little thing. "Oh, by the way...how old *are* you?" There was no way he was giving her to Jack if she wasn't old enough. Of course, he was a few years older than Jack as well. She may have just looked extremely young to him.  
  
"Nineteen." She chuckled. "I'm a big girl, Jean-Luc. I can take care of myself."  
  
"That's good to know." He smiled at her indulgently. "Come on."  
  
He led her over to Walker, who took over. And he realized at the last second, he didn't even know her name. But she was certainly...enchanting.  
  
Walker strolled over to Picard after he had introduced the girl to Jack. "Cute kid. You did a good job with this one...even if luck had something to do with it. I mean, she actually wasn't pissed off to start out with--that's *never* good...and she's a redhead. Jack's got a thing for readheads. I think this one might stick around for awhile. Look--they're charming the hell out of each other."  
  
Jean-Luc did have to admit that the two of them seeming to be hitting it off. This one might go a little longer than most. But he was fairly certain of one thing. If it didn't work out between them...he wouldn't mind taking her out. She'd certainly made an impression on him--the perfect combination of spunk, charm, brains, and good looks. He remembered one thing, though. "Um...Walker?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"What's her name?"  
  
"You mean you didn't get it?"  
  
"Actually, no."  
  
"Oh. Well, it's Beverly. Beverly...Howard, I think she said."  
  
XXXXXXXX  
  
***A month later***  
  
Jack and Beverly were still dating with no signs of a breakup in the near future. Frankly, it surprised Walker and Jean-Luc. Jack's romances were usually entering the danger zone by the one month mark. It wasn't anything with him...he was simply forever finding the wrong woman.  
  
Not that his friend's attempts had helped much, either.  
  
"I give it another 2 weeks, tops," Walker commented, waiting for Jack to show up. He'd mentioned he was bringing Beverly along. "Maybe another month--she *is* really cute. And a smart little thing, too. Heading to med school..." He grinned at Picard. "Jack's even trying to convince her to go to Starfleet Medical when the time comes."  
  
Picard shrugged. "I don't know...Beverly doesn't exactly seem like the Starfleet type. But Jack *is* very persuasive. I wouldn't put it past him."  
  
Jack and his girlfriend entered the room moments later. Jack was grinning widely.   
  
Oh, wonderful, he was up to something.  
  
"Hey, glad you both are here. Once Celeste gets here, we can talk. Wouldn't want to have to tell the story 80 times."   
  
Celeste McDaniel came in shortly. She was Beverly's best friend...and, as Walker had hoped, immediately taken a liking to him. They both knew it was nothing that would last, but it would be fun while it did.  
  
"We're getting married," Jack said, without preamble.  
  
You could have sliced the shock in the room with a knife.   
  
"What?" Walker finally managed. Celeste was still picking her jaw up off the floor. Jean-Luc wasn't sure *what* he thought.  
  
"We're getting married," Jack repeated.   
  
"But it's only been a month!" Celeste insisted.  
  
"I know it seems sudden," Beverly assured them, but we've really thought about it.  
  
"Yeah," Jack added. He kissed her cheek. "I know what I want. And I'm not going to wait longer than I have to. So I asked her to marry me last night, and she said yes."  
  
"Sacre merde," Jean-Luc sighed to himself. This was certainly a shock--and, insanely enough, he'd been hoping that Beverly would one day be his. Ah, but it was probably nothing more than hormonal infatuation. Right?  
  
Celeste had been close enough to hear him, and she--having studied French--grinned at him. "Yeah, my thoughts exactly."  
  
XXXXXXXX  
  
**U.S.S Enterprise 1701-E**  
  
Over twenty years had passed since that day, and Captain Jean-Luc Picard still remembered it vividly. He remembered all the guilt he felt for so many years after realizing it was much more than a "hormonal infatuation". He remembered the day she'd come aboard the Enterprise. He remembered everything.  
  
He had joked for some time that when Beverly and Jack met, he didn't know her. He said so because they hadn't been "formally introduced". He was trying to deny his feelings for her.  
  
He thought he'd loved Anij. But she'd--as he'd realized later--been a substitute for the woman he really wanted. Just as Will and Deanna belonged together, so did he and Beverly.  
  
He looked at her as she slept beside him on the couch in her quarters. They'd talked long into the night. He'd thought for almost all of the years that they'd spent aboard the Enterprise that Beverly was merely a friend to him. A very close friend, but only a friend. And they did have a wonderful friendship, but it was more than that.  
  
Picard carried her to her bed, kissed her forehead gently, and slipped out.   
  
He didn't have to feel guilty any longer. He wasn't a man in love with his best friend's wife.   
  
He was a man in love with his best friend.  
  
XXXXXXXX  
  
The End  
7/25/00  



End file.
